WPNY-LP
WPNY-LP is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station licensed to Utica, New York, United States and serving Central Upstate New York's Mohawk Valley. It broadcasts a low-powered analog signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter at its studios on Smith Hill Road in Deerfield (official address is Utica). The station can also be seen on Charter Spectrum channels 12 and 1215 in both standard and high definition (however, the HD feed is cable-only). Owned by Nexstar Media Group, WPNY-LP is a sister station to Fox affiliate WFXV (channel 33) and ABC affiliate WUTR (channel 20, owned by Mission Broadcasting and operated by Nexstar through joint sales and shared services agreements) and the three stations share studios. Due to its low-power status, WPNY-LP does not currently operate a digital signal of its own, and at the present time, there are no plans to convert the station's signal to digital. Additionally, the station's broadcasting radius only covers the immediate Utica area. Therefore, the station can also be seen through a standard definition simulcast on WUTR digital subchannel 30.4 (or virtual channel 20.2 via PSIP)—which also transmits from the Smith Hill Road facility—in order to reach the entire market. History The station signed-on January 1, 1988 with the call sign W11BS licensed to Little Falls. It was a low-powered translator and general entertainment Independent outlet. The station joined UPN as a charter affiliate on January 16, 1995. On December 22 of that year, W11BS upgraded to low-powered status and adopted the WUPN-LP calls. However, less than a year later, the station became WPNY-LP after a full-powered outlet in Greensboro, North Carolina took the call letters. At some point in time, WPNY became a sister outlet to WFXV and began to be housed at the latter's facility on Greenfield Road in Rome. In 1996, both stations were sold to Sullivan Broadcasting which would itself be bought out by the Sinclair Broadcast Group only two years later. Instead of being acquired by that company, WPNY and WFXV were purchased by Quorum Broadcasting founded by former Sullivan head Dan Sullivan. The stations were acquired by current owner Nexstar in 2003. It was announced in December of that year that Clear Channel Communications would sell WUTR to Nexstar subsidiary Mission Broadcasting. The sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on April 1, 2004 at which point Nexstar took over operations of WUTR under local marketing and joint sales agreements through the company's operational arrangement with Mission. Although the ABC affiliate was the subordinate entity, WPNY and WFXV were consolidated into WUTR's Deerfield studios. In 2006, The WB and UPN merged into one network called The CW Television Network. Several weeks later, Fox announced the establishment of another network called MyNetworkTV, for the benefit of those UPN or WB affiliates that did not earn a CW affiliation. Since "WBU", the cable-only WB affiliate operated by NBC affiliate WKTV through The WB 100+, was the default choice to take the CW affiliation, WPNY-LP chose to associate with MyNetworkTV, and promptly did so on September 5, 2006. Category:MyNetworkTV Affiliates Category:Channel 11 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1988 Category:1988 Category:Utica Category:New York Category:Nexstar Media Group Category:Former independent stations Category:Former UPN affiliates Category:VHF Category:MyNetworkTV New York Category:Former NTA Film Network affiliates Category:1995 Category:1996